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Sunday, March 30, 2014

Sixties Scoop: Aboriginals Adopted Into White Families Seek Apology

By Chinta Puxley, The Canadian Press

WINNIPEG - Some aboriginal people who were adopted into
white families during the so-called Sixties Scoop say it's their turn
for reconciliation and are calling for a formal apology from the federal
government.
Dozens of adoptees gathered in Winnipeg on Monday to
tell their stories — many for the first time — and figure out how to get
justice.
Coleen Rajotte was taken from her Cree community in
Saskatchewan when she was three months old and raised by a Manitoba
family. Adoptees were robbed of their real families and feel someone has
to be held accountable, she said.
"If someone came into your home
today, took your children and shipped them to the United States and
around the world, we would want answers," she said. "That's what we as
adoptees are asking for. Someone has to take responsibility for this."
From
the 1960s to the 1980s, thousands of aboriginal children were taken
from their homes by child welfare services and placed with
non-aboriginal families. Many consider the adoptions as an extension of
the residential school system, which aimed to "take the Indian out of
the child."
Rajotte said she was lucky enough to be placed into a
loving home, but she lost her language, her culture and her connection
to her ancestral home. When she recently went to the home she would have
grown up in had she not been adopted, Rajotte said it was overwhelming.
"I was physically ill for days just trying to process all of that," she said.
But
while residential school survivors have had a formal apology and are
the subjects of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, adoptees
haven't been formally recognized.
"Personally, I would like to see
some kind of formal apology to all adoptees that were taken from their
homes," Rajotte said. "That's a lot of children — 20,000 children across
Canada."
A spokeswoman for federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said there would be no comment.
"As this case is currently before the courts it would be inappropriate to comment further," she said in an email.
A
class-action lawsuit launched by some survivors in Ontario in 2009 is
slowly making its way through the courts. The lawsuit was certified, but
Canada recently won leave to appeal that decision.
Manitoba
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson said it's time adoptees were
given the same opportunity for reconciliation as residential school
survivors. Some adoptees were put with families where they were treated
as farm hands or subjected to horrific abuse, he said.
"It's not
an easy thing to talk about the hurts that many of them endured as
children, not knowing who they were, being a brown face in an all-white
school as an example," said Robinson, a residential school survivor who
organized the two-day gathering.
"Those things are very difficult to talk about in this current day but they have to be addressed."
Those
adoptees at the gathering hope to emerge with a strategy for
recognition and a sense of what supports they need to heal, he said.
"Compensation no doubt will come up," Robinson said. "There's got to be a certain degree of accountability by governments."SOURCE

Thursday, March 20, 2014

TWO WORLDS: LOST
CHILDREN OF THE INDIAN ADOTION PROJECTS, ISBN: 978-1479318285, Trace A DeMeyer
and Patricia Busbee, editors, Blue Hand Books, 2012, paperback on Amazon and ebook $6.99 available for all devices.

TWO WORLDS: Lost Children of
the Indian Adoption Projects, is classified as an anthology by the co-editors
Trace DeMeyer and Patricia Busbee. The published book, however, exceeds
any and every expectation of this label. It not only offers an avalanche
of information on the book's very pressing topic, but it includes a multitude
of written testimonies showing the ills caused by decades of governmental
enforcement of Indian Adoption Projects.

Trace DeMeyer, co-editor,
journalist, and former editor of THE PEQUOT TIMES, successfully
brought this issue forward in ONE SMALL SACRIFICE, published in
2009. It was a heart wrenching tell-all memoir of the author's own life.
We followed the writer along her path of trying to find answers to a lifetime
of questions. Now, adoptees DeMeyer and Busbee have succeeded, as
co-editors, in bringing together a circle of like souls, "Lost Birds"
who have spent their lives wondering if they would ever feel true warmth and
belonging. "Lost Birds" of America and Canada
have shared their despair with written contributions in excerpts of books,
papers, poems and stories on the topic. One most jolting fact, found in the
publication, casts a shadow on the persistent governmental use of Trans-racial
Adoption. Tribal methods of taking care of their own children,
kinship, have always been part of strong cultural traditions. It is all
the more astonishing to read: "One quarter of all Indian children
were removed from their families and placed in non-Indian adoptive and foster
homes or orphanages, as part of the Indian Adoption Projects."
Yes, there is great poverty clouding over many tribes which may, for those who
support adoption, help condone the practice of taking Indian children away from
tribal families to place them in a more economically adjusted environment.

The government continued to
condone the system under a shield of haphazard statistics gathered by such
researchers as David Fanshel, in 1960.He in turn, preferred to follow earlier methods used in the state of
Florida by the researcher, Helen Witmer, during a period of racial
polarization. During this period adoption services were eager to rid
themselves of discriminatory accusations and were more prone to favor
trans-racial adoption. There were multiple considerations which should
have been respected but were ignored in order to prove that "white
couples committed to racial equality were the most likely to adopt non-white
children and succeed as parents." Fanshel felt that there
was "little risk to the physical or emotional well-being of
individual children and that these adoptions had 'saved many of these children
from lives of utter ruination'."(358)

Most adoptees did have
access to formal education, but there are also success stories of tribal
supported college students. What about rituals and lessons traditionally learned
in tribal culture, which could not be passed down to children and
grandchildren? What could these generations of children have been able to
offer their tribal communities, if their nurturing had been able to continue
within their tribal culture? Patricia Busbee clearly poses the
alternative to trans-racial adoption. The alternative of governmental
planning and financial support of Indian and First Nation child care would have
actually been the easier path to follow.

"I am Lakota,"
a contribution in the book, looks into the life of a trans-racial adoptee and
defeats stoic assumptions that Native children grow to become totally adjusted
in non-Indian families. Here, the adoptee did not know about her Native
heritage throughout her childhood. The pool in the backyard, the new car,
and the possibility of having a good college education, was not enough to fill
the constant emptiness felt throughout Diane's young life. It was also
just not enough for her to feel "devoted and proud to be an Irish Tommaney."(12)

A term of endearment comes
to mind, when pondering these adoptee narratives and findings, which has come
to be the labeling of helpless spirits held bondage under the ills of Indian
adoption. The description is of 'Split Feathers;' those
innocently caught up within two worlds. Their search to simply find
themselves comes from not having known the world they were born in. They were
unable to experience comfort of belonging in the world of trans-racial
adoption. Bravery to step forward and find their way home did not come
easily, with their efforts thwarted by closed files and records. Success
of tribal family reunion was not a promise, only another hurdle to conquer for
having been placed on a too distant path, too long. Still, reports of
forced adoption continue, as small voices cry out, lost and in despair.
Even Fanshel, in final conclusion of his early research believed that "only
the Indian people have the right to determine whether their children can be
placed in white homes." (359)

Those who seek answers to
the many baffling issues surrounding Indian Adoption Acts will become well-versed,
within the pages of the anthology, on the history of these acts that were
forged under well- known efforts of the country's acts for Assimilation.

As a special bonus, the
co-editors have presented specifics for viewing problems suffered by First
Nations of Canada. We find that a Canadian survey actually focused on
families and their problems, after the removal of their children by provincial
child welfare authorities, from the late 1960s to the early 80s. The six-month
study report was compiled by Native Child and Family Services and titled OUR
WAY HOME. The staff writer of "WINDSPEAKER"
magazine, Joan Black, reports that the survey not only shows effects of
adoption and foster care on Indian adoptees. "It also identifies a
variety of obstacles that Aboriginal people face in trying to re-establish
family ties, and sets out a four-phase strategy aimed at easing repatriation
for those who desire it."(331) The question is, will they and
other American adoptees, be given necessary documents for proving their
identity?

Natives and First Nations of
Turtle Island are the only people required to prove their ethnicity. With
modern day research, and access to more adequately translated chronicles and
diaries, written by early explorers, it is clear that Native People of the New
World were always very diverse in physical features as well as cultural traditions.
DeMeyer's article on "Blood
Quantum" is truly an eye opener as it confronts the core of ethnic
prejudice which has been nurtured and continues to stifle North America today.
Native people often say, "It was never easy being Indian!" Thus, we
remember other aspects of ethnic intrusion. The scope is wide: from
Indian slavery and breeding, followed by official record keeping written by
unknowing and illiterate census takers; to the confines of Indian schools; and
certainly of course forced or coerced Indian adoption. All of these
intrusions have remained under a cloud of constant propaganda favoring
assimilation. No, it has not been easy being Indian!

The 31st chapter in the
book, "Congressional Testimony" proves that the most
helpless, the Lost Children of these Indian Adoption Projects and Programs were
most vulnerable, as government presented a sure method for forcing assimilation
upon children. William Byler, Executive Director, Association of American
Indian Affairs stated that “The disparity in rates for Indian adoption
and non-Indian adoption is truly shocking.”He presents statistics beginning with the
state of Minnesota where “Indian children are placed in foster care or in
adoptive homes at the rate of five times, or 500 percent greater than
non-Indian children.”(183)His
statistics move on through other states which show even greater numbers.Indian Adoption Acts have continued to be an
acute disruption of tribal culture through many decades while Religious groups,
with help from federal and state government, have held fast to ill-fated convictions.
With every effort made by Lost Children, seeking out a way home, more problems
emerge. "Our American government still defines us today, using
census reports that are highly suspicious and definitely untrustworthy to
define sovereign status or what degree of Indian blood or blood quantum exists."(Suggested
reading: Blood Quantum, 185)

With the disappearance of
children from our tribes, generations have been lost and therefore, in some
cases, tribal existence has become threatened. Some Lost Birds
have been able to find their way home and have been accepted by their tribal
families. Others, some still not aware of their tribal bloodlines,
continue to search for a place of belonging and sovereignty.

The anthology answers many
questions, but it also presents the urgency for those in power to recognize
failed concepts. The book is in a total thumbs-up category and highly
recommended.

Dr. Raeschelle Potter-Deimel received her PhD
from the University of Vienna in Austria in Cultural Anthropology and lectures
on North America and Native American topics. An independent researcher
and Fulbright scholar, Dr. Potter-Deimel frequently travels for lectures and
master classes to America and throughout Europe. She can be reached at:
potterdeimel@aon.at.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Resonating Reconciliation Project are the radio documentaries. As part of this project, forty campus and community radio stations
across the country are working with local Indigenous producers to create
a documentary about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools in their
communities in Canada. They are the result of the culminating hard work of the
Indigenous producers to write, record, and produce the documentaries,
and from the stations to train, provide assistance, equipment, and
technical support for the producers.

Two Worlds

The documentaries share the stories of survivors, people who work for
child and family services, family members, friends, and many more
people whose lives have been impacted and shaped by the legacy of Indian
Residential Schools.

The 60s Scoop included America, too, and perhaps longer since adoptions effected Native children until 1978 and even continues today with American judges who do not abide by or understand the Indian Child Welfare Act. Much more work needs to be done to document America's Indian Adoption Projects and ARENA - which is why I am now working on a new anthology CALLED HOME. The first anthology TWO WORLDS collected narratives of adoptees from the US and Canada.

The only way we can change this history of assimilation and cultural genocide is to tell it ourselves...

Music (part 1): "Greetings Sunrise" by the Four Winds Women's Singers from Honoring Our Ancestors; "Wildflower (remix)" by the Women of Wabano from Voices; "Universal Healing" by David R. Maracle from Sacred Healing

Monday, March 3, 2014

AN EXCERPT by Joy Lieberthal (aka Song Eun Hee)
FROM Adoption Echoes
(how the adoption story continues long after you figured it out)

...As more adoptees demand a change in the way adoption is conducted,
talked about and discussed, there is another side code switching to make
adoption sound urgent, necessary and in peril of going extinct. I
should clarify….international adoption. Frankly, it’s driving me
crazy.

Imminently, our legislators are seeking ways to pass the CHIFF legislation
and their code is amazingly effective. It makes me wonder what is
wrong with my brain that I seem to read their words in a completely
different way than what I see. Right now, there are groups in the US
who are in near hysterics about the “orphan crisis” in the world,
mobilizing people to believe they must adopt, adoption is the only
solution.

Every time this happens, I call upon my friends and colleagues who
are adopted and it does feel like we are reading another language. We
don’t agree universally on every issue, but I appreciate the passionate
civility we dialogue. Our code has always been with the intention to
have the adopted as the center of our focus. It is clear and trusted. I
asked for help and I got it.

Melanie Chung-Sherman,
my co-author, lives in a place that I swear speaks a different English
at times. Her “Blessings” sign-off at the end of every email causes me
to chuckle and I look to her to help me better understand the language
religion plays in the adoption world. Living in a more secular, rather
less evangelical, area has be me blind to the codeswitch. She agreed to
write with me and help clarify from her perspective the code switching
that happens in the world of “saving the orphan” movement that I
struggle with.

So, here is our list of how the code is switching in our
heads. I am hoping it drives you equally mad! I am hoping when you
read the CHIFF legislation and future media pieces on adoption that you
may begin to see the code for yourself.

child advocates- code for those in support of perpetuating
and increasing the number of foreign born children being adopted to
White American couples. If you read the list of supporters of the CHIFF
legislation, the list of adoptee organizations and organizations
internationally recognized as working for preserving children in their
country/family of origin is glaringly light.

children in families first – code for children from Third World countries into the homes of privileged, American couples

growing up in a family is a child’s basic human right – code switch for “growing up in an adoptive family in America”; perpetuation of international adoption

international adoption as a solution – code for international adoption is THE solution

best practices – code for ways to primarily advance the process and promotion of international adoption

orphan - a complex code word steeped in biblical meaning that
has been simplified that has categorized and subsequently emotionally
petitioned the adoption community into action on behalf of children in
need who may or may not be legally available for adoption. It does not
diminish the fact that there are children without direct care, but is
overly referenced for all children who appear in need and lacking a road
to Christian salvation by Western standards. At one time this
terminology was antiquated, but was revived at the height of the
evangelical adoption movement.

rescue –to save a child in need by means of international
adoption in a Westernized home (“being called to adopt”) and many times
not critically considering the long-term implications for that child and
first family, alternatives to permanency in-country or the possible
reasons and/or methods in which a child was referred for international
adoption originally. Taking on the theological salvation narrative and
attempting to vertically apply to the child while overlooking the fact
that adoption is about permanently building a family, not rescuing
someone.

resources can be reallocated to achieve more timely, effective,
nurturing, and permanent familial solutions for children living without
families– code for taking existing federal funds already benchmarked
to promote family permanency in-country and reallocating them to ensure
international adoption policy, practice, and placement is securely
funded.

shall lead the development and implementation of policies that
will ensure the timely provision of appropriate, protective, and
permanent family care for children living without families – policy
codeswitch that will engender the least restrictive, fastest, and
Western-centric measures to ensure international adoptive placement
while deconstructing and maneuvering around current international and
federal accountability standards in an effort to boost numbers of
adoptions.

And for the ultimate codeswitch, when we read that a piece of legislation is in keeping with the core American belief that families are the best protection for children,
this really means, regardless of global cultural considerations, which
include the impact of poverty, gender and social class bias, diverse
social norms, as well as a country’s sovereignty, Americans still know
what is best. Thus, it is only in an American family that a child can
truly flourish.

[And we find ourselves as American Indian Adoptees with this same situation in regards to the

Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare (CAICW) who wish to open the floodgates AGAIN and end ICWA protections so more white people can adopt from Indian reservations...Trace].

Saturday, March 1, 2014

PORTLAND, OR—Today, National Indian Child Welfare
Association Executive Director Terry Cross formally requested the U.S.
Department of Justice Civil Rights Division launch an investigation into
the unlawful treatment of American Indian and Alaska Native children in
private adoptions and public child welfare systems.
Cross presented a letter on behalf of four leading national
Native American organizations—the National Indian Child Welfare
Association, the National Congress of American Indians, the Native
American Rights Fund, and the Association on American Indian
Affairs—during a meeting at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland
hosted by Department of Justice Acting Attorney General for Civil Rights
Jocelyn Samuels.

NOTE: This letter gives me the idea that WE adoptees can also draft a letter to the DOJ asking for an investigation into this case, mentioning our own adoptions pre-ICWA.... Use the addresses on this letter to write your own letter TODAY....one solution is public outcry - that is needed now... Trace

60s Scoop Settlement

Dawnland 2018

where were you adopted?

Every. Day.

adoptees take back adoption narrative and reject propaganda

#WeShallContinue

To Veronica Brown

Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.

Join!

National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network (NISCWN)

Membership Application Form

The Network is open to all Indigenous and Foster Care Survivors any time.

Read this SERIES

our new book trailer

ADOPTION TRUTH

As the single largest unregulated industry in the United States, adoption is viewed as a benevolent action that results in the formation of “forever families.” The truth is that it is a very lucrative business with a known sales pitch. With profits last estimated at over $1.44 billion dollars a year, mothers who consider adoption for their babies need to be very aware that all of this promotion clouds the facts and only though independent research can they get an accurate account of what life might be like for both them and their child after signing the adoption paperwork.

TWO WORLDS Book 1 (second edition)

v

Two Worlds anthology (Vol. 1)

“…sometimes shocking, often an emotional read…this book is for individuals interested in the culture and history of the Native American Indian, but also on the reading lists of universities offering ethnic/culture/Native studies.”

“Well-researched and obviously a subject close to the heart of the authors/compilers, I found the extent of what can only be described as ‘child-snatching’ from the Native Americans quite staggering. It’s not something I was aware of before…”

“The individual pieces are open and honest and give a good insight into the turmoil of dislocation from family and tribe… I think it does have value and a story to tell. I was affected by the stories I read, and amazed by the facts presented…. because it is saying something new, interesting and often astonishing.”

Did you know?

Good words

I agree with you on the caring of “orphans” – true orphans, not “paper orphans” as Kathryn Joyce describes in her book, The Child Catchers. The most important thing to remember, however, is that the orphan’s original identity and family connection and heritage must remain intact and available to him or her forever. This business of adoption – and I do mean the multi-billion-dollar, unregulated business of adoption – of wiping out the child’s original identity, falsifying birth records with the adopters’ names, altering facts such as place of birth, severing familial kinship, must stop … Immediately. And the outrageous injustices foisted upon adoptees and their families for the past 100 years must be addressed and righted. We are faced today with six to seven million people who were basically legally kidnapped, sold to the highest bidder, their identities falsified, and placed in a lifelong, imposed witness protection program for which there is no legal recourse. Then told by church officials, agency and government functionaries that they have no right to know who they are, to do genealogy or learn about important family medical history, or know the identity of or associate with blood relatives. This is how the Judeo-Christian society has interpreted “caring for orphans”, for it’s own selfish interests and greed. Starting with Georgia Tann, the woman charged with kidnapping and selling 5,000 children, most of whom were given to the rich and powerful who then colluded with her to “seal” adoptions and cover their nefarious activities (see, for example, Gov. Herbert Lehman, NY, 1935).

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